Applying Patient-Centered Pain Care to Practice: A Case of Long-Term Opioid Use in Primary Care

This activity is part of a series

Faculty

Melissa Weimer, DO, MCR, FASAM
Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health, Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health
Medical Director, Addiction Medicine Consult Service, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT
Melissa Weimer, DO, MCR, FASAM

Dr. Melissa B. Weimer, DO, MCR, FASAM, is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health. She is a clinician-educator who is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine. She is the Director of the Yale Addiction Medicine Consult Service at Yale New Haven Hospital and Associate Program Director for the Yale Addiction Medicine Fellowship program. Dr. Weimer has a clinical and research focus on improving the care of patients with addiction and its associated comorbidities, particularly in the hospital setting, and has specialty expertise in the treatment of complex pain. She is also passionate about expanding the workforce of healthcare professionals who can treat individuals with substance use disorders.

Statement of Need

Avoiding long-term opioids from the start is ideal. However, for patients with chronic pain who have been successfully managed on long-term opioids, benefits and risk must be considered carefully, and care needs to be individualized for each patient. In order to better address the needs of providers and patients living with pain, updates to the 2016 CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain have been developed and are expected to be available in late 2022. These updates will address the integration of non-opioid treatment options, meeting the needs of patients who need opioids, strategies for safe and effective tapering, and identifying when referral to a pain specialist is warranted.

In this second installment of a REMS BriefCase series on pain management, faculty will discuss the CDC Guideline updates and how to successfully implement them into practice to improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with chronic pain. Upon completion, learners will leave equipped with the strategies necessary for safe and competent prescribing of opioids.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this CME/CE activity, participants should be able to incorporate the updated CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids to practice for safe and competent prescribing and improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) for patients with chronic pain.

Financial Support

This activity is supported by an independent educational grant from the Opioid Analgesic REMS Program Companies.

Please click here for a listing of REMS Program Companies. This activity is intended to be fully compliant with the Opioid Analgesic REMS education requirements issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Target Audience

Physicians, surgeons, dentists, PAs, nurse practitioners, nurses, and pharmacists.

Credit Information

Jointly Accredited Provider

In support of improving patient care, CME Outfitters, LLC, is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Family Physicians (AAFP) 0.5

The AAFP has reviewed the activity and deemed it acceptable for up to 0.50 Enduring Materials, Self-Study AAFP Prescribed credits. Term of Approval expires with the expiration date of the credit availability. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. AAFP Prescribed credit is accepted by the American Medical Association as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ toward the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. When applying for the AMA PRA, Prescribed credit earned must be reported as Prescribed, not as Category 1.

Physicians (ACCME) 0.5

CME Outfitters, LLC, is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. CME Outfitters, LLC, designates this enduring activity for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Nurses (ANCC) 0.5

This activity is designated for 0.5 contact hours.

Note to Nurse Practitioners

Nurse Practitioners can apply for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). AANP will accept AMA PRA Category 1 Credit  from organizations accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. Nurse practitioners can also apply for credit through their state boards.

Note for California Nurses

This continuing nursing education activity was approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing. CME Outfitters LLC’s provider number is CEP15510.

Pharmacists/Pharmacy Tech (ACPE) 0.5

This application-based activity is approved for 0.5 contact hours (0.05 CEUs) of continuing pharmacy credit.
Activity UAN: JA0007185-0000-22-115-H01-P

Disclosure Declaration

It is the policy of CME Outfitters, LLC, to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, and scientific rigor and integrity in all of their CE activities. Faculty must disclose to the participants any relationships with commercial companies whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, or with the commercial supporter of this CE activity. CME Outfitters, LLC, has evaluated, identified, and mitigated any potential conflicts of interest through a rigorous content validation procedure, use of evidence-based data/research, and a multidisciplinary peer review process.


Dr. Weimer reports the following financial relationships: Consultant: CVS Health and Path CCM, Inc.


Ms. Broglio reports no financial relationships to disclose.


The following peer reviewer and CME Outfitters staff have no financial relationships:

  • Shirley Michelle Franks, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC (peer reviewer)
  • Thomas W. Heinrich, MD Planning committee, AAFP)
  • Evan Luberger (planning committee)
  • Kellie Busby, PharmD (planning committee)
  • Kasey Brandt, PharmDr (planning committee)
  • Susan H. Yarbrough, CHCP (planning committee)
  • Sandra Caballero, PharmD (planning committee)
  • Sharon Tordoff (planning committee)

Faculty of this CE activity may include discussions of products or devices that are not currently labeled for use by the FDA. The faculty have been informed of their responsibility to disclose to the audience if they will be discussing off-label or investigational uses (any uses not approved by the FDA) of products or devices.

Obtaining Credits

Post-tests, credit request forms, and activity evaluations must be completed online (requires free account activation), and participants can print their certificate or statement of credit immediately (75% pass rate required). This website supports all browsers except Internet Explorer for Mac. For complete technical requirements and privacy policy, visit our Privacy & Confidentiality page.

Questions about this activity?

Call us at (877) CME-PROS or (877) 263-7767.

BC-082-122322-62

 

Applying Patient-Centered Pain Care to Practice: A Case of Long-Term Opioid Use in Primary Care
Event Date: 12/23/2022